Archived News:

Saturday, Aug 08, 2009

Following a denial that console editions of Dragon Age:
Origins were delayed,
IGN now has a
confirmation from BioWare that the Windows and Xbox 360 editions of the RPG are
delayed from their planned October release until November 3 in
North America and November 6 in Europe, and the PS3 edition is expected "later
in November." No reason for the small setback is provided.

EA announces a bonus for Need for Speed: SHIFT, where if you preorder the
coming installment in the racing series through
Gamestop you'll receive exclusive access to the BMW E92 M3 GT2. Also,
there's a new movie from the game showing off more rubber burning and such on
Gamer's Hell.

Midway
Sells San Diego Studio To THQ, Sells German-French Divisions has more on the
breakup of Midway Games, describing the disposition of a couple of the studios
not acquired by Warner Bros. They point to
an SEC
filing indicating Midway has sold its San Diego studio to THQ, and its
French and German divisions to smaller entities. Word is THQ will offer
employment to at least 40 of the 100 employees at the San Diego studio, though
they also point out: "However, specifically excluded from the bankruptcy
purchase by THQ is the contract with the TNA iMPACT! video game in development
at the studio, as well as the third-party tools such as Unreal Engine being
licensed for the game's creation."

There are three recent videos on the YouTube from a focus group session Valve
conducted with a group of deaf people (Part
One, Part Two, and
Part Three). The
session included Gabe Newell outlining (through a translator) the game
development process, and learning from the audience what Valve is doing well to
support hard of hearing gamers as well as areas were changes or improvements are
required. There are some interesting insights to be had all along the way,
including how for many deaf persons English is a second language after sign
language, so there is a discussion of incorporating signing into team
communications. They also discuss other usability issues, and the importance of
facial expressions in deaf communication (Part
Three includes comments about this from
Bay Raitt, who built the
facial system for Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy). In
Part Two Gabe outlines
Valve's interest in incorporating a deaf character into a future game, and
describes Half-Life's Alyx teaching dog sign language because someone from her
past used it (apparently not Gordon, in spite of his muteness), calling this an
"excuse to build the technology for signing." This is all pretty interesting
stuff, and the comments indicate that this is part of an established history of
Valve's efforts at supporting hearing impaired/deaf gamers. Thanks
Kotaku. Coincidentally,
GamePolitics points the way to
AbleGamers, a site focused on overcoming gamers' physical challenges.

Ossian Studios interview on Bitmob talks with Alan Miranda in an effort to
demystify the Mysteries of Westgate, their Neverwinter Nights 2
adventure pack. Topics include the end of the premium module program that forced
a free release of Darkness over Daggerford, how that may have worked to
their advantage, the DRM issues that delayed the release of Mysteries of
Westgate, the pack's critical reception, their studio structure (including
working with his wife), fighting a recession, and more.

A Conversation With Rhianna Pratchett on Gamasutra discusses game writing
with the narrative designer/scriptwriter for games such as the Overlord series
and Mirror's Edge. The lengthy interview offers a number of interesting insights
into the process of game writing, including how it often trails other aspects of
game design: "It's actually not that uncommon for writers (particularly
freelance ones) to be brought on to a project where that is the case, or partly
so. If you're not in near the start, then what often happens is that you're
presented with is a task akin to writing a script for a film for which all the
sets have already been built. It's a tricky to deal with, but certainly not
impossible. In fact it makes the art of writing far more like an actual craft;
where you're weaving, chiseling, sculpting and molding the story around and
through the levels. Sometimes you find yourself in the rather odd position of
writing a story backwards. You're presented with the place the character needs
to be and you have to create the path which took them there. It can be quite a
fun challenge in a sort of masochistic way."

GameTopius - The Allure of Sex.What company is going to market Sex: The Game? Glenn Beck's head would
explode. The first time the game was found in a child's bedroom, Joe
Lieberman and Hillary Clinton would meld together, travel back in time, and
destroy the founders of Rockstar, the lab that invented Computer Space, and
the entire nation of Japan. Americans, and a lot of other people, just can't
handle the idea that in order to win you have to stimulate the clitoris, and
if the game was for the Wii... forget about it.

At the same time, if sex is only a reward, it is pointless in terms of
videogames.

Sleeper Hit - Why do we metagame?This is why random dance epidemics break out in MMORPG's like fire in a
dry pine forest. People just get bored with questing or grinding and they
want a simple, no frills break, which takes up as much time as their willing
to let waste. Everyone is susceptible to it. A huge raid party completes a
time-draining run successfully and a good number of them are going to be too
exhausted to do another one, but not quite tired enough to log out of the
game yet.

Gameplayer - Was Gaming Better Before DLC?The thing is, when done right, DLC is an awesome event that sees a game’s
community rally under the logo with excited forum talk and fingers frothing
at the chance of clicking the download button, taking the financial hit, and
getting into more game time. Unfortunately, only a few publishers are making
a conscious effort to make DLC something above and beyond the core gaming
experience. Something worthy of your money, and something that does not
undervalue the initial purchase and in turn make consumers feel sickened by
the purchase.

Overclock3D.Net -- Magazine publisher serves up porno to minors.To my surprise the only thing that did was the last 4 pages of the
magazine that contained major full page spreads of mobile sex games, videos
and pictures. Convinced that my son had accidentally managed to purchase a
mag from one of the 'upper-shelves' I turned to the front cover to see if
there was a 18 rated sticker anywhere on the front of the magazine. Nothing.
Absolutely no indication that the magazine contained content unfit for young
eyes.

It was 13 years ago yesterday that we learned that John Romero was parting ways with
id Software. For what it's worth, here's what I wrote about this at the time:

"Just my opinion: I think it's going to be difficult for both Carmack and Romero
in the future (I know... poor bastard millionaires). Everything that each
produces from now on will be judged against Doom and Quake. If these future
endeavors fall short (easy enough to do--those are tough acts to follow), it
will be said that the disappointment is the result of the break-up of their
winning chemistry. It's got to be a drag always hearing that what you're doing
now lacks the genius of what you used to do. Carmack & Romero stand a chance of
being the Lennon & McCartney of computer game software.